Bob Murray of the Ducks was named NHL General Manager of the Year during the 2014 NHL Awards on Tuesday. ETHAN MILLER, GETTY IMAGES

Making hard decisions behind the scenes is Bob Murray's thing. Making speeches in public isn't.

But the Ducks general manager had to take center stage Tuesday night in Las Vegas as his colleagues honored him as the NHL General Manager of the Year over two other strong finalists, the Kings’ Dean Lombardi and Montreal's Marc Bergevin.

Murray, 59, was a finalist last year for the six-year old award, which is voted on by the general managers along with other league executives and selected media members. Now a winner, a speech was required during the NHL’s awards show at the Encore hotel.

“Speeches are always difficult for me, as you know,” Murray said in a conference call. “It's not one of my strengths. (laughs). But it was an honor. It doesn't come along often. It's a wonderful thing.”

Murray has earned praise for his ability to retain cornerstones Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry long term while surrounding them with key acquisitions and young talent, setting the Ducks up to be an annual playoff participant. The Ducks established club records with 54 wins and 116 points.

“When you're voted by your peers, it makes it all the more special,” Murray said. “When the people you work with and work against vote for this, it's very special. It means that my team – my off-the-ice team – is doing a good job.

“That's something we've tried to create in Anaheim, and we seem to be getting better and better at it.”

This comes while Murray is preparing for Friday's entry draft. The Ducks want to acquire a center – their target is Vancouver center Ryan Kesler – but Murray said any trade talks should intensify once he arrives in Philadelphia.

"I have a feeling it's going to come down to Thursday and eventually things start happening," Murray said. "But as of right now, I can't see anything happening in the next 24 hours."

The Stanley Cup, however, belongs to the Kings and that's one swap Murray would love to do with Lombardi.

"There's a mutual respect there," Murray said. "I told him I'd trade this one for that one if he wants to make a deal."

Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf was shut out of any hardware. Getzlaf finished second to Sidney Crosby in voting for the Hart Trophy as the NHL's most valuable player and also lost out to Crosby for the Ted Lindsay Award as the most outstanding, as voted by the players.

The Kings' Dustin Brown also took the Mark Messier Leadership Award, which Getzlaf was also a finalist. "He was deserving of something this year," Murray said. "It's too bad."

Defenseman Hampus Lindholm and goalie Frederik Andersen were named to the NHL's all-rookie team.

Crosby also collected the Art Ross Trophy as the league scoring champion and the Ted Lindsay Award as the players’ choice for the NHL’s most outstanding player.

Boston goalie Tuukka Rask won the Vezina Trophy, and Bruins teammate Patrice Bergeron won his second Selke Trophy as the NHL’s best defensive forward. Chicago’s Duncan Keith won his second Norris Trophy as the league’s top defenseman.

Colorado coach Patrick Roy won the Adams Award as the NHL’s top coach, while Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon became the youngest player to win the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s top rookie.

Crosby cleaned up at the NHL’s awards show after a fruitful season that included a gold medal as Canada’s captain at the Sochi Olympics. He led the league with 104 points, including 68 assists in his fifth career 100-point season. Crosby scored in 60 of his 80 games, never going more than two games without a point for the Metropolitan Division champion Penguins.

Crosby hadn’t won the Hart Trophy since 2007, but the 26-year-old center handily beat out Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf and Philadelphia captain Claude Giroux. Crosby received 128 of the 137 first-place votes from a panel of hockey writers, while Getzlaf finished second in the balloting.

In his acceptance speech, Crosby thanked his teammates and family.

“I appreciate all the sacrifices you’ve made to allow me to play the game I love every day,” Crosby said.

The winners of the league’s statistical awards also were recognized at the ceremony in the Encore Theater at Wynn Las Vegas. Washington’s Alex Ovechkin accepted his fourth Richard Trophy as the NHL’s top goal-scorer, while Jonathan Quick and the Stanley Cup champion Kings won their first Jennings Trophy for the NHL’s fewest goals allowed.

Dominic Moore of the New York Rangers won the Masterton Trophy, an award for perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey. Colorado’s Ryan O’Reilly won the Lady Byng Trophy for his sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct after scoring a career-best 64 points while committing just one minor penalty all year.

Roy was chosen the NHL’s top coach in his first season behind the Colorado bench. The Hall of Fame goalie led the Avalanche from 29th place in the overall league standings to third this season, going 52-22-8 and winning the Central Division.

Bergeron beat out the Kings’ Anze Kopitar and Chicago captain Jonathan Toews for the Selke, which he also won in 2012. The smooth two-way forward, who also won the NHL Foundation Player Award for his charitable work, won a league-high 1,015 faceoffs while finishing second in the NHL with a career-best plus-38 rating.

Rask went 36-15-6 and finished in the top five in every major statistical category to win his first Vezina for Boston, which claimed the Presidents’ Trophy with the NHL’s best regular-season record. The NHL’s general managers chose Rask in a narrow vote over Colorado’s Semyon Varlamov, who finished fourth in the Hart Trophy balloting.

Keith comfortably beat out Boston captain Zdeno Chara and Nashville’s Shea Weber for the Norris, which he also won in 2010. Keith, who led all defensemen with 55 assists while leading the Blackhawks in ice time for the ninth straight season, is the only active NHL defenseman with multiple Norris wins.

MacKinnon was a runaway winner of the Calder, receiving 130 of the 137 first-place votes. The No. 1 overall pick doesn’t turn 19 until Sept. 1, beating Carolina’s Jeff Skinner in 2011 as the youngest player to claim the trophy.

Moore returned to the NHL this season after sitting out a year to be with his wife, Katie, who died from a rare form of liver cancer in January 2013. The 33-year-old forward thanked his family and teammates.

“I’ve had a lot of good examples of perseverance over the years, and none more so than my wife, Katie,” Moore said. “So this award is very meaningful, and I’m very grateful.”

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